Nov 30, 2022, Criminal Records, Prostitution Stings, Bellevue Washington

This is a blog post about criminal records related to the prostitution stings in Bellevue that happened primarily in 2017 but are continuing to happen. “Operation On Demand” in 2017 saw the arrest of more than 100 men who were subsequently prosecuted for patronizing a prostitute in a sting style operation.

On those cases, a number of individuals wrapped their case early either as pleas of guilty or a deferred sentence, which is entered as a guilty plea and still needs to be vacated. A little while later they realized what they referred to as a technicality. I think a rights violation is a more reasonable characterization. It resulted in the dismissal of the remaining 61 cases.

However, having the arrest record for patronizing a prostitute can still be damaging. If you have a conviction or entered a deferral for patronizing a prostitute and you paid all your fines, complied with all your terms and conditions and at least 3 years have passed since you wrapped it all up, including a deferred sentence for patronizing a prostitute, those still need to be vacated in order to come off your record. Many of those are eligible at this point.

For those individuals who do not have a conviction but have the arrest on their record, depending on if you have any prior or subsequent cases, you may be able to expunge that arrest as sufficient time has likely passed. Feel free to give my office a call either way, (206) 222-8829.